Friday, August 21, 2009

The Thurston Lava Tube is a psychedelic, experimental surf instrumental group from Leicester, England who plays wigged out, fun, sometimes avant garde music. Excellent musicianship, with organs and synths adding to the guitar mix. Muy coolo.1. The Anchor Pigs 2. Argentinasaurus 3. It Is the Music of the the Thurston Lava Tube but It Is Performed by Pigeons 4. Fritter Capsule 5. Peruvogator 6. I Didn't Bite the Dinosaurs 7. Forgot to Put the Chain On Baxter 8. It Must Have Been the Mousse 9. Absurdo 10. Shit Weasel 11. Oh, What Happened to the Poor Bear? 12. Surf Rider 13. Wonderful Land 14. Mrs. Robinson (live)

"We're Gonna Rock - We're Gonna Roll" is an excellent audio history of how Rock & Roll came to be. This dense 118 cut set is divided into four genres: R&B, DooWop, Rockabilly and finally good old early Rock & Roll. The tunes selected are truly representative of their era and genre (with the exception of the rockabilly CD which leans more towards hillbilly swing) and the sound quality is excellent. I've found so many original versions of songs that were covered by other artists that this is a great resource. Especially the original R&B version of "Tryin' to Get to You". Yes, there are some of the usual comp hits but there are plenty of goodies rare enough to be special. I would recommend this to anyone and not just Roots music fanatics. This is one heck of a collection!! It’ll do ya good.

Friday, August 14, 2009

More goodies by request from 3 Balls. Burnin’ Mike Vernon’s 3 Balls of Fire – "the men with the burning guitars" – have led the way for instrumental guitar bands in Austin since 1987. The popular trio from the Lone Star State perform original, high octane, road-tested, surf-drenched Texas twang. They dip into in surf guitar, hotrod music, lounge favorites, and cowboy exotica from the Sixties and their bluesy twang is incendiary. Between Ry Cooder, Dick Dale and Ennio Morricone.Good stuff.

1996 release featuring the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Cracow, conducted by Masatoshi Mitsumoto. The highlights are TARANTULA and THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS but all the music is pleasing and worth having. TARANTULA is as good as any horror score of the 1950s and this orchestra and conductor really do it justice. Being early Mancini helps too. The recorded sound is as near perfect as could be hoped for with very close miking, good separation and lots of clear detail. There are not many re-recordings which sound this fabulous; it's as if the OSTs had been done in a modern studio. Very nice. Tarantula (Herman Stein, Henry Mancini) - 13 tracks (18:42) The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (David Buttolph) - 11 tracks (18:46) The Monolith Monsters (Irving Gertz) - Main Title only (1:03) Gorgo (Angelo Francesco Lavagnino) - 12 tracks (19:43)

These sixteen production library compositions, used variously in educational shorts, commercials, television shows and feature films, constitute some of the most invisible, yet best remembered, musical melodies in American culture. Even stranger is that most of this music was produced by the British KPM company. Further examples (including EMI and Pye's contributions to the canon) can be found on UK anthologies such as "The Sound Gallery" and "The Sound Spectrum." The collected composers and arrangers construct brilliantly memorable productions whose purpose is to serve as musical beds beneath narration or to signal mood and plot shifts in films and television programs.Though not designed as firmly for the background as true Muzak [tm], there is still an unnerving contextual shift in compiling these tracks for foreground listening. Though originally used in more subliminal contexts, these tunes have been drawn on in recent years as a simple way to evoke nostalgic moods, with or without irony in mind. In addition to appearances on boomer throwbacks like Nick at Night and Ren & Stimpy, these titles also appear in films like "The Hudsucker Proxy" and "Natural Born Killers." The most recognizable tune (at least, for 1960's television viewers) will be Wilfred Burns' "Stop Gap," which served as the theme to "Truth or Consequences." You can't help but feel that Bob Barker will step out in front of the curtain at any moment.As calculated as this music may be, its composition, arrangement and performance hold tremendous charms. This is more mood music than easy listening, in that its purpose is to attract your attention and shape your experience, rather than provide any sort of sedation. Many of the musical cues will haunt you with inscrutably faint memories of products like Vaseline Intensive Care Lotion and Midol. This is an excellent volume for listening or for adding unique musical cues to your home video.Combine this one and the one above on 1 disc for about 79 minutes of kitschy bliss. Yowza!

Friday, August 7, 2009

Burnin’ Mike Vernon’s 3 Balls of Fire – "the men with the burning guitars" – have led the way for instrumental guitar bands in Austin since 1987. The popular trio from the Lone Star State perform original, high octane, road-tested, surf-drenched Texas twang. They dip into in surf guitar, hotrod music, lounge favorites, and cowboy exotica from the Sixties and their bluesy twang is incendiary. Between Ry Cooder, Dick Dale and Ennio Morricone . Recorded live in glorious lo-fi .. crack a few brews and set back awhile!

Carrying on the surf tradition yet adding more texture. Maybe it's just the way they all work together. A great recording of this band. Solid drumming with great dynamic tension, spooky keyboards and guitar, solid bass. Excellent energetic rave-ups, lush spy soundtrack-ish songs, with heavy doses of sci-fi, and lounge.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Look past the CHEEZY cover and drink deep mateys. This is a made for TV comp sold in KOREA – what a doozy it is. They get the good stuff over there. This is the closest thing you will get to an officially licensed comp from the great surf label OMOM from Italy. They are the guys who do the KILLER surf/garage/punk tributes – Burt Bacharach, American Grafitti Revisited, Hair, Evil Fuzz etc – and this has an EXCELLENT sampling of all their groups from these and other releases. Mostly instros with a few vocals – this is a one of kind prize that no self respecting instro lover should be without. Wednesday is my birthday – here’s a present for all.

Impala was one of the greatest, and easily the most underrated groups of the recent instrumental surf revival, and to me this is one of their best efforts. Slow, sensuous, sleazy sax over the fast pulse of a great rhythm section. Exotic, melodic guitar riffs instead of the usual tube-amp thrash that tries to pass itself off as surf these days. It creates a beautifully sleazy, neon-lit pulsating world. Being a soundtrack there is a combination of atmospheric and melodic tunes - so think of this as mood setting background music more than punchy driving riffage.

Hey All Fat City Lounge Patrons:

Lounge Rules:No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service. Just Kidding. Come as you are, you can even take your clothes off when you dance. (In the back room).For Real:1. Lively Discussion is encourgaged -- foul language and other types of impunation of character is not. Evil will be deleted.

2. The Music posts are for enjoyment and evaluation purposes only. If you like it -- Please, go buy it, and support the artists who produce it and perfom it. Go to their shows, buy their t-shirts, etc. The independents we showcase need your help to make more cool music. Otherwise, You-Know-Who Wins. If you don't like what you hear, please delete it out of your computer to make room for stuff you do like.

3. All other contributions are welcome, and will be posted at proprietor's discretion

About Me

Fun stuff:
Am a musicholic - I'm 52 -- I heard my first Ventures song in '66 and have been a fan of twang ever since. Of course all the other guitar gods were added over the years, along with a lot of other great music. I have been a DJ in my younger years on air -- WPFW and in clubs and currently produce a local television show about the performing arts.